Traevon Jackson of Wisconsin drives against Aaron Craft of Ohio State on Sunday. The Big Ten has not won an NCAA title since 2000.

Taking a spin around the sports world reminding the millions of you who will be taking part in this year's NCAA pool, do all your co-workers a favor and don't breathe a word about your bracket. Like your golf scores and fantasy football team, nobody cares.

News: The Big Ten, on the strength of eyewitness accounts and physical evidence, has secured the title as best conference in the land and it will send seven teams to this year's NCAA dance party.

Views: Commissioner Jim Delaney's boys have seen their Q rating sink like quicksand the past several years. Football has been sliding for some time, and no one likes to remind the Big Ten of that more than those potty-mouthed blowhards down in SEC country.

On the basketball side, the Big Ten has not won an NCAA title since 2000 (Michigan State) and has just one in the past 23 years. Meanwhile, its friends in the ACC have won eight, the SEC six, the Big East four, the Pac-12 two and the Big 12 and Mountain West one apiece.

Yes, the Big Ten and Mountain West are deadlocked at one each.

The truth is the Big Ten has become the Danica Patrick of college athletics; lots of hype, little success.

Five of this year's Big Ten possibilities Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin all have the potential to end the troubling drought. The conference is banking on the idea its night in, night out rugby matches will make for strong-willed, strong-minded teams now that the tournament has arrived.

This is not a new belief, but it seems this year's group is better at it.

As always, time will provide the answers. But all the bluster you've been hearing for months means nothing. Once again, the Big Ten is required to do just one thing: put up or shut up.

News: Former Packers receiver Greg Jennings takes the money and runs to Minnesota.

Views: You know Jennings mentally checked out when news leaked he put his De Pere home up for sale.

When the market proved much softer than he believed, Jennings was left with the unenviable decision to put his ego in his pocket and return to Green Bay or make it all about money and go to Minnesota.

Returning to Green Bay would have been better for his career, as the threat of double teams lessen with the talented receivers he had around him along with the added benefit of having one of the best quarterbacks in the league pulling the trigger in Aaron Rodgers.

But listening to Jennings after he signed, it was clear he was more interested in being the unquestioned No. 1 receiver. He also wanted the money. He got both, Christian Ponder be damned.

There's nothing wrong with that. It's his decision. But in cases like this, you always wonder if Jennings had not already won a Super Bowl ring if his line of reasoning would be different.

News: Ole Miss' Marshall Henderson, the bombastic guard who will lead the Rebels against Wisconsin on Friday, is the unquestionable Mad Man of March Madness.

Views: Henderson mocked the Gators' fans by doing the Gator Chomp during the Rebels' win over Florida on Sunday. Afterward he called the other SEC coaches "losers," after he was named SEC Tournament MVP, but was only voted second team all-SEC.

He thrives on talking trash, takes absolutely crazy shots and does this goofy-looking "Land Shark" gesture where he plants his thumb on his forehead then wiggles his other four fingers as a shout out to the Rebels football team.

"It's a freaking game," he told USA Today Sports "It's a basketball game. People take it so seriously that it's funny for a little white guy like me to just come around, talk trash to people and the fans."

If you're from Ole Miss, you love the guy. If you're from anywhere else, not so much. But love him or hate him, in a game dominated by the often overbearing personalities of coaches, it's fun to watch a player be his own person, no matter how off the wall.

As for how Henderson's sometimes undisciplined style of play will fare against the extremely disciplined Badgers, just consider this quote from Vanderbilt player Josh Henderson after his team lost to Ole Miss in the SEC semifinals.

"We knew Marshall Henderson was going to take some crazy shots but we knew he was going to make some crazy shots," he told USA Today Sports. "We were told not to let that affect us, but it did a little bit."

He will definitely be the wild card when these two teams meet Friday, in every way imaginable.

News: San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Brett Bochy was cut last Thursday by his father, Bruce, and told he was going back to the minors. The younger Bochy was none too pleased.

Views: Most players get called into the manager's office to get the bad news. The 25-year-old Brett Bochy got it from his dad over dinner. That's why he was unhappy. He wanted to be treated just like anybody else. And that's why he'll be an immediate fan favorite.

News: The Badgers have been classic overachievers during the regular season but often have been disappointing underachievers in the NCAA Tournament.

Views: If anyone knows the answer, now would be a good time to contact UW coach Bo Ryan.

In Ryan's tenure, six times the Badgers have been a No. 5 seed or higher. But on five of those occasions, they were sent packing by teams seeded seventh or higher. That equals disappointment.

Ryan and his staff have done wondrous things with the Badgers again this year, as their run of 11 straight NCAA Tournament appearances was thought to be in jeopardy when point guard Josh Gasser was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury in October.

But here they are again, with a No. 5 seed. Ryan is one of the best coaches in the game, but March has often brought out his teams' worst. Perhaps this is the year that will change.